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Sharing power reduces gender-based violence

By Peggy NashOpinionTracey Raney

Wed., Dec. 5, 2018

It was 36 years ago when NDP MP Margaret Mitchell stood in the House of Commons and spoke about the issue of wife assault. She demanded that the government take action, only to face an outburst of laughter from male MPs.

Just six years later, a man massacred 14 women, mostly students, at the Montreal École Polytechnique. He separated the women from the men and killed them simply for being women.

Ryerson University's Faculty of Arts ran a Women in the House program this fall, which enabled talented students who identify as women to shadow women MPs for two days at Parliament Hill. (Ryerson University photo)

Since those dark moments in history, along with many other incidents, women have been demanding change. There are now stronger laws and many institutions now have anti-harassment policies. The #MeToo movement continues to raise awareness about issues of consent and workplace power.

Yet there are still about 150 femicides in Canada each year. Women, especially the least powerful ones, continue to face abuse, harassment and violence. Indigenous women continue to go missing or are murdered.

Most studies on gender-based violence recommend measures such as better education of children, starting in early grades, teaching about bullying and consent. They also call for better training of police and those in the justice system, as well as better access to shelter beds, second stage and affordable housing for women facing violence. They also often recommend measures to improve women’s economic independence and better access to positions of power.

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Women’s leadership in all facets of society, from corporations to law firms, academia and in science, can help prevent violence against women. But how?

Women have long struggled against their limitation to the private, domestic sphere. They have fought for education, for the vote, and for the right to run for political office. Eighteenth century philosopher and writer Mary Wollstonecraft put it well:“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men, but over themselves.”

In other words, women need access to the same possibilities as men, including the same rights to be leaders and to run for political office. The more women gain positions of power, the less they will be viewed as vulnerable, exploitable targets.

When women were mostly confined to the home, they were under the private control of men. If they are economically dependent on men, they are less likely to rock the boat. When men are in charge of our corporations, our judiciary, and our political institutions, women can seem like intruders.

The goal of aggressions against women is often to silence or erase them. The continuum of violence against women from sexist jokes and psychological manipulation to rape and murder is about silencing women by those who believe that only men have the right to exercise power. Those happy with the gender biases that limit women’s access to power continue to push back.

Recent studies are documenting this backlash against women’s efforts for greater democratic representation.

To give a personal example, when one of the co-authors of this op-ed, Peggy Nash, first ran for a leadership position in her local union, she was called out by her opposition for both being a poor mother and a poor leader. Women of course can be good mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, friends and lovers — and still run for office.

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Change is inevitable but far too slow. In spite of a gender equal cabinet in our federal government, women occupy only 27 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons, which ranks us 60th in the world according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Ryerson Prof. Tracey Raney has seen this first hand in her politics classes as well. All too often, she noticed that female students were not taking up leadership roles during group activities. They were also less willing to voice their political opinions.

To empower more young women to take an interest in politics, we launched a pilot program at Ryerson’s Faculty of Arts this fall. The Women in the House program enabled talented students who identify as women to shadow women MPs for two days at Parliament Hill, the federal government’s seat of power.

These students witnessed first-hand a day in the life of women who have stepped up and succeeded in their bid to run for public office. They were inspired and motivated by the generosity and commitment of the women MPs across all party lines.

These young women care about the future of our communities. They want to be part of the public life of our country. They are taking up the political mantel just like the diverse number of women candidates who ran for city council before the Premier reduced the number of council seats.

And just like other women who ran — and won in unprecedented numbers during the U.S. midterm elections, sending a strong message to a U.S. president who has bragged about assaulting women.

Our job is to ensure that when they are ready to take that step, they will have an opportunity to do so that is free of fear, harassment and violence.

Things are slow to change until suddenly we wonder what took us so long.

Peggy Nash is a distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson’s Faculties of Arts and Community Services, and a former parliamentarian. Tracey Raney is a professor in the university’s department of Politics and Public Administration.

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